Dreamers
by Tie-grr
Summary: A dream is a wish your heart makes. SMacked. please R&R. Capter 2 now up!
1. Bad luck

_Beep Beep Beep_

Th alarm sounded throughout the dark room. It was finally silenced by Stella slamming her fist on top of it. It was the third night in a row that she hadn't had a decent night's sleep. Stella had spent those nights tossing and turning and dreaming about someone in particular. Never before had she had dreams about him before, she hadn't even thought of him as more than just a friend. But now, she realised that she loved Mac Taylor.

"If I don't sort this out soon, I won't be able work from lack of sleep." She moaned to the empty room. "Well, better get ready for work."

She climbed out of her bed and into the shower. Letting the hot water run over her body, she let her mind wander to him again. She thought back to last week when she found herself staring at him while he was looking into the microscope. Her eyes wandered over his shoulders and down his back. She shook her head and stepped out of the shower. She got dressed and headed off to work.

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Mac stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. Cold showers always helped after his dreams about Stella. He had been having the dreams for a long time and he was used to the by now. But recently they had gotten more...M-rated.

Getting dressed, he thought about how he could tell her that he loved her. He decided that he would tell her by the end of the week, but first he had to go to work.

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Mac stepped into the elevator and pressed the button. As the doors were closing, an arm appeared between them. Panting, Stella entered the compartment.

"Good morning." Mac said with a grin on his face. "Sleep through our alarm did we?"

"No." She panted. "If I didn't rush to take this elevator with you, I would be stuck with that old pervert from the 5th floor."

"Oh, you mean Paul Farrel. He scares some of the younger techs." He leant against the back of the elevator.

"Poor girls. How come you look so tired?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He replied.

"I haven't been getting much sleep. Vivid dreams have something to do with it." She snapped her mouth shut. The last part slipped out. She turned away from his inquisitive look. "How about you?"

"Uh...just... dreams." She was amused by the fact he was uncomfortable. The elevator door opened and they stepped out.

"Anyway, do you know if we have any cases?" Stella asked him as they walked down the corridor.

"No, but something tells me we have one now." He pointed towards Don, who was heading towards them.

"Morning guys, we have a new case. It's downtown in an apartment block. Name is Ray Holland, 34 and he owns the apartment. Let's go." Don had walked away before either of them could greet him back.

"Morning to you too, Don." Stella said sarcastically and followed him, with Mac in tow.

Don led the way to the scene in a squad car. Mac and Stella drove behind him in Mac's car. The journey was spent in silence and with Stella driving, Mac snuck a few glances to remember later. After about twenty minutes, Don pulled up outside an apartment block. The three detectives rode the elevator to the third floor and entered apartment number 314.

"Whoa! Definite struggle." Don commeneted as they entered the room. Chairs, vases, books and other things were strewn across the floor. In the middle of the room, lay the body of Raymond Holland. He was lying on top of a broken table with a shard of glass sticking out of his chest.

"I think it's safe to say that our guy put up a fight." Stella commented as she tried to make her way to the body.

"Over here Stel, I've made a path." Mac motioned for her to come towards him. She managed to trip over a book and fell. Mac caught her and pulled her up against his chest. He could have sworn he felt her breathing stop momentarily. She looked straight into his eyes, her face inches from his. When she remembered where she was she pulled away.

"Thanks Mac." She smiled and walked to the body. Mac took a few seconds to calm down before he followed.

"Well, looks like our killer might have cut themselves." Mac pointed to the traces of blood that were out of place. Stella had already put gloves on, so she examined the red mark on his shirt collar.

"Hmmm, lipstick. Could the fight have been over a woman?

"It looks like one hell of a fight." Mac looked around the room again. His eyes settled on the laptop computer. Carefully picking his way across the room, he put on his gloves.

"Hmmm, the guy didn't have a password on his laptop. His organiser says he had a date with Lucy Forde. Maybe she wears red lipstick?" He asked turning back to face Stella. "What have you got?"

"Alot of broken glass. But one of the pieces has some trace on the edge of this piece." She held up a piece of glass with a blue smudge on the edge. She sealed it in a bag and placed it next to the one containing the blood stained shard.

"I'm going to take a look in the bedroom. See if there is any evidence of our mystery woman." Mac walked into another room.

"Stel, you might want to come in here." He called out. "There is more destruction in here."

Stella copied the path that Mac had taken. The bedroom was just as bad as the other room. A big double bed stood in the middle of the room, either side of it there were end tables. One had a broken lamp on it, the other had a number of broken picture frames. Mac picked one up and showed it to Stella.

"This brunette could be our mystery lady."

"Maybe. Is there any writing on the back?" She held her hands out, waiting for him to pass it to her.

"Here."

"Ow, damn it!" Stella removed her glove and sucked her finger.

"Should I have mentioned that there is still glass in the frame?" He asked, concealing his smile.

"Shut up Mac!"

"Alright no need to get snappy! Here." He took out his handkerchief and cleaned up her cut.

"Thank you." she muttered. She looked at his face while he concentrated. When he looked up, she found herself looking in his eyes.

"You should really be more careful today." He smiled at her and offered her a new glove.

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**I'm half way through chapter 2, but just decided to post this one. Please review.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. Flirting

They managed to finish proccessing the scene without any more accidents. Don left to try and locate Lucy Forde, while Mac and Stella headed back to the CSI building. The two of them were standing in the layout room, their evidence on the table.

"Did you get DNA results on the glass shard yet?" Mac asked as he inspected the shirt.

"Yes, the blood belongs to an unknown male. We did find out that the blue stuff on this piece of glass is paint." She waved the bag in front of him.

"Wait a minute, let me see that piece of glass." She handed the bag to him and he held it against another piece. "Stel, do you notice anything different between the two pieces?"

"No, not really." She shrugged.

"Look closer." Mac walked to stand behind her and put his arms around her to put the piece nearer to her face. He could see her blush.

"Now I see it. The piece with paint on it has a different pattern to the other pieces." She shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like the way she was enjoying him leaning against her. Silently she cursed herself. When he moved away, she missed the closeness.

"So that means this piece of glass was brought to the scene." He moved to where he was standing earlier.

"But why and how? I mean that shard is pretty big."

"Well, we'll have to figure that out." His pager went off and he left the room.

_What was that?_ She thought to herself. _If he was flrting, i'm going to push him to the limit._

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Don sat at the table in the interrogation room, opposite Lucy Forde. He was waiting for Mac, but seeing as he hadn't replied to his page, Don decided to continue without his colleague.

"Miss Forde, did you go on a date with Ray Holland last night?"

"Please, call me Lucy and yes. Why? Is he in trouble?" The blonde woman asked as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"He's dead. He was murdered last night and you were the last person to see him alive. Tell me, what time did you get home?" He got up and started walking around the room.

"He's dead? Oh my god!"

"Please answer the question."

"Um... it must have been about 10:30. I went to bed as soon as I got in the door. Ray had just broken up with me, said he loved another woman." She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

"Do you know the name of this other woman?"

"Yes. Nicola Patten, my best friend." Don jumped at the sound of the blonde slamming her fist on the table.

"Could you give us her phone number and address." He slid a pad and pen across the table.

"There! Now can I go?" she asked angrily.

"Go ahead. We'll be in touch." He opened the door as Lucy walked out. As soon as she was gone he took out his phone and hit speed dial.

"Mac? It's Flack. We have a lead. Meet me outside in 10 minutes." He hung up and walked towards the front door.

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Stella, Mac and Don pulled up outside a block of apartments. Beside the front door were many baskets of flowers.

"Nice place."Don commented as he pushed the right bell.

"Yes?" said a female voice over the intercom.

"Miss Patten?" Don asked.

"Yes. What do you want?" The voice on the other end was rather snappy.

"NYPD. We want to talk to you about Ray Holland." There was a long pause.

"Come in." The door clicked open and the detectives entered. They made their way to the second floor and knocked on the door labelled 2C. The door swung open almost immediately and they were confronted by a tall, brunette who looked like she had been up all night.

"Please can we make it quick?" She moved to the side, allowing them to enter.

"You look like you've been crying Miss Patten." Stella said as she was offered a seat.

"Are you in love detective?" The woman asked her. Don and Mac both looked at Stella, who showed a hint of embarassment.

"Yes." she finally replied. She glanced at Mac. "Why?"

"Imagine that the man you love told you that he was dumping you because he loved a man! Ray called me last night and told me those exact words." She sobbed into her tissue.

"What time was that?" Don asked.

"At about 10:30. Why do you need to know?"

"He was murdered last night." Mac told her, expecting an outburst of sobs.

"Oh my god! This week keeps getting worse!" She let out another couple of sobs before carrying on." So why are you here? I'm not a suspect am I?"

"We are only following protocol. Do you know the name of the man he left you for?" Stella asked.

"Hugh Walker. Ray said his name was Hugh Walker. Now, please can you leave." The woman opened the door and waited.

"Yes. Thank you, Miss Patten. You have helped us alot." Stella told her as Don left. Don pulled her through the door, it slammed behind her.

"Well, this guy sure got around and who are you in love with Stel?" Don said.

"None of your business Flack! Mac help me out." She pleaded.

"Leave her alone. Can you work on finding him, Don?" Mac replied. "I'll find out who." He whispered to his friend as Stella wandered off.

"No need." Stella told them, she was looking at the list of tennants in the apartment building. "He lives in this building, apartment 5E."

"That was easy." Don joked as he followed the others up the stairs. Again, they found themselves knocking on an apartment door. They heard shuffling behind the door but no-one answered.

"Hugh Walker, NYPD open up." Don said. This time a crash was heard and the three of them drew their weapons. Don kicked open the door. They rushed in, circling each room.

"Guys! over here." Stella pointed at the scaffolding outside the window and at the man climbing down it.

"Stay here and call for back up." Mac told her before he climbed out the window after Don.

The man had reached the bottom and was running towards a fence by the time they had reached the bottom. Mac jumped down and chased the man as Don had fallen off the scaffolding about three metres up. Stella was watching from above, watching the man scramble up the chain link fence and keep going. Looking to the left, she saw Mac in hot pursuit, eventually followed by Don. Mac cleared the fence easily and caught up with the man just as a squad car pulled up. Don limped beside the car and climbed in, cursing his clumsiness. Stella ran to meet mac.

"Nice jump out there!" She smiled and placed a hand on his arm.

"Thanks. Come on, lets get some lunch. I'll get Danny and Hawkes out here to deal with the apartment." He led her to his car, hand on her lower back.

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**Finally finished it! I have one last chapter to do and hope to have it up in a week, so keep looking for an update. Don't forget to tell me what you think.**

**And thanks to everyone for the great reviews**!!!


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